Historian’s Fictions Raise Larger Questions

Re “Top Historian Becomes Tangled in Fictions,” June 19: I was a student at UCLA during the height of the Vietnam protests. Contrary to popularly held opinions, no one I knew ever had a single negative comment about the soldiers fighting the war. Rather, all anger was directed at a government that would so willingly sacrifice its young men in such a venture. For Pulitzer winner Joseph J. Ellis to fabricate an extensive history of his own service in that war is far beyond a “mistake.” It is a body blow to the memory of every soldier who has served his country, much less paid with his life.

The reaction to the revelations was as disturbing as the act itself. Ellis himself deemed it a mistake with no harm beyond his immediate circle. The president of Mount Holyoke College said the revelation served no public interest. His publishing house said that “personal crises” don’t “bleed over” into one’s work.

If a historian whose work is supposed to deal with facts and their effect on the world cannot see that his lies have had serious effects, why should anyone believe that he does not take similar liberties with his professional work?

I might only suggest that if you want to aggrandize your life in the ‘60s, say you were at the Beatles concert at Shea Stadium.

Michele Ader

Studio City

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Maybe Prof. Ellis can get a job as a movie reviewer for Sony.

Tom Schiff

Woodland Hills